Yao-Chang Lee, Cheng-Cheng Chiang, Pei-Yu Huang,
Chao-Yu Chung, Timothy D. Huang, Chun-Chieh Wang,
Ching-Iue Chen, Rong-Seng Chang, Cheng-Hao Liao &
Robert R. Reisz (2017)

Evidence of preserved collagen in an Early Jurassic
sauropodomorph dinosaur revealed by synchrotron FTIR
microspectroscopy.

Nature Communications 8, Article number: 14220 (2017)

doi:10.1038/ncomms14220

Fossilized organic remains are important sources of
information because they provide a unique form of
biological and evolutionary information, and have the
long-term potential for genomic explorations. Here we
report evidence of protein preservation in a terrestrial
vertebrate found inside the vascular canals of a rib of a
195-million-year-old sauropodomorph dinosaur, where blood
vessels and nerves would normally have been present in the
living organism. The in situ synchrotron radiation-based
Fourier transform infrared (SR-FTIR) spectra exhibit the
characteristic infrared absorption bands for amide A and
B, amide I, II and III of collagen. Aggregated haematite
particles (?-Fe2O3) about 6?8??m in diameter are also
identified inside the vascular canals using confocal Raman
microscopy, where the organic remains were preserved. We
propose that these particles likely had a crucial role in
the preservation of the proteins, and may be remnants
partially contributed from haemoglobin and other iron-rich
proteins from the original blood.